Coming Home: The Next Chapter of Prinsley

Aug 21

Eight harvests, more than sixty years of family farming, and the beginning of Prinsley wines from our family’s Yountville vineyard.

This year marks our eighth harvest at Prinsley.

Eight has always felt meaningful to us. Turned on its side, it becomes the infinity symbol—and two intertwined infinity symbols make up the Prinsley logo, representing Rea and me coming together to create something of our own.

And now, in our eighth year, that symbol feels especially fitting.

Because Prinsley is evolving.

We’re growing our gifting and corporate services. We’re creating more opportunities to gather around wine, food, land and one another. We’re deepening our commitment to regenerative agriculture and the growers we work beside.

But there is one evolution that feels more personal than all the others.

Prinsley is coming home.

Beginning with the 2026 harvest, we will make wine from my grandmother’s vineyard in Yountville, Napa Valley.

For the first time, fruit from the land my family has cultivated for more than 60 years will become Prinsley wine.

And it is difficult for me to put into words what that means.

More Than a Vineyard

My grandparents have cultivated this property for more than six decades.

There have been grapevines and walnuts. Gardens and animals. Children and grandchildren. Work and harvests. Gatherings and parties. Food passed around a table.

There is history here, certainly.

But more than that, there is love planted in this ground.

Years ago, I had one of those incredibly simple moments that somehow defines you.

I was sitting on an old retaining wall at my grandparents’ home.

In one direction was Grandma and Grandpa’s kitchen garden. Beyond me were grapevines and the Stags Leap Palisades. Behind me was my grandmother’s home and her humble kitchen table—a table where food made by her hands and heart had been shared with family, friends and neighbors for decades.

I remember looking around me and having this profound recognition:

This is who I am.

A woman of the land.

A woman of the garden.

A woman of the vine.

A woman of the kitchen.

A woman who loves craft and hospitality and the weaving together of people, memories and meaning.

It wasn't a grand revelation.

I was simply sitting on an old retaining wall.

But something in me became very clear that day.

I was planted there, too.

Standing on the Shoulders of Those Who Came Before Us

My grandparents' and great-grandparents generations build the foundation of the Napa Valley we know today.

They were farmers. Their neighbors were farmers. Their friends were farmers, winemakers, ranchers and entrepreneurs.

Together, these families cultivated vineyards, took risks, raised children, built businesses and helped shape what would eventually become one of the world's great wine regions.

For decades, our family's grapes became part of wines made by iconic Napa Valley producers, including Robert Mondavi and Shafer.

Their fruit. Their work. Their investments. Their willingness to build something before anyone knew what Napa Valley would become—all of it created a foundation beneath us.

I see that more clearly now than I ever have before.

And I honor it.

Legacy isn't simply inheriting something.

Legacy is deciding what you will do with what was handed to you.

From Family Vineyard to Prinsley Wine

And so, we begin another chapter.

From the 2026 vintage, Rea and I will begin crafting Prinsley wines from my grandmother's Yountville property.

We plan to produce:

Cabernet Sauvignon · Malbec · Merlot · Rosé

These aren't wines you'll see on the website next month. Cabernet especially asks for patience. The wines will take one, two, or more years to make their way from vineyard to cellar to bottle.

And that's part of what makes this moment so meaningful.

We are announcing a beginning—not a finished product.

There will be harvests and barrels and blending decisions. There will be things we learn from the vineyard and things the vineyard asks us to reconsider.

We get to watch this chapter unfold.

Regenerating the Land for What Comes Next

Making wine from this vineyard is only part of our vision.

We are actively beginning the transition of the property from conventional farming toward organic and regenerative farming practices.

That matters enormously to us!

Regeneration isn't about rejecting the generations that came before us. Those generations kept this land in agriculture for more than sixty years.

For us, regeneration is about asking:

What does this land need from our generation now?

How do we build healthier soil?

How do we encourage biodiversity?

How do we farm with greater awareness of water, plants, animals and the larger ecosystem?

How do we leave this vineyard more resilient for whoever comes next?

That transition will take time. Real regenerative farming isn't a marketing claim or something accomplished in a single season.

It is a practice.

And we are in it.

And One More Beginning From an Ending

The 2026 harvest holds another bittersweet milestone for Prinsley.

In the mountains of Mendocino County, Alder Springs Vineyard is concluding commercial farming after decades of cultivation.

Our relationship with Alder Springs has helped shape Prinsley. It is an extraordinary mountain site, and we have had the privilege of making wines from its fruit and developing a meaningful partnership with the people and land there.

Before that chapter closes, we're making something celebratory:

a new sparkling Chenin Blanc from Alder Springs Vineyard.

There is something beautiful about these two stories happening at once.

One vineyard completing its chapter.

Another family vineyard beginning a completely new one with Prinsley.

Wine continually reminds us that nothing stays still.

Land changes. Families change. Vineyards change. We change.

And then we create again.

Year Eight

So here we are.

Eight harvests into Prinsley.

Rea and me. Two intertwined infinity symbols. Two people who started making wine together and had no idea exactly where it would lead.

And somehow, the path is bringing us back to where part of my own story began.

Now, we alchemize.

Now, we create.

Now, we come home.

To our roots.

To stand on shoulders of the ancestors who came before us.

And hopefully, to land that will be healthier because we had the privilege of caring for it.

This is a gift to us.

And eventually, when these wines have had the time they need, we get to share that gift with you.

You Are Part of This Story

There is one other piece of this that I never want to gloss over.

Prinsley exists because people choose Prinsley.

Every bottle you purchase matters.

Every gift you send matters.

Every time you pour our wine at your table, introduce us to a friend, recommend us to a business, join us for a gathering, send someone one of our gift boxes, or share what we're doing with someone who might care—you keep this little ship sailing.

And you allow us to keep doing things like this.

To work with exceptional growers.

To support thoughtful farming.

To take chances on tiny lots of wine.

And now, to bring our family's fruit home to Prinsley.

So keep sending us the pictures.

Keep sharing the stories.

Keep pouring the wines.

Keep bringing people to the table.

Our hearts are bursting as we enter this next season of harvest and creation.

New wines. Old roots. Living soil. Family land.